


Night Sky

by orphan_account



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-10-12 01:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20556089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Seasons upon seasons have passed since Firestar was leader of Thunderclan. His story is but a myth, repeated by queens to curious kits at bedtime. Lightpaw had spent his kithood listening to these tales, but now he's an apprentice, and he is ready to train hard so that one day he will be a warrior of Shadowclan. But when mysteries surrounding his past begin to be revealed, how will he and the brother kept hidden from him for moons change their future together?





	1. Clan Allegiances

Thunderclan

Leader:

Galestar - brown tabby tom

Deputy:

Mountainstep - dark gray tabby she-cat with a white muzzle and chest

Medicine Cat:

Ploverheart - brown tabby tom

Warriors:

Jumpfoot - agile burnt orange tom  
Apprentice, Heatherpaw  
Salmonclaw - silver tom  
Apprentice, Flamepaw  
Lightstep - small cream she-cat  
Apprentice, Applepaw

Apprentices:

Applepaw - white she-cat with brown tabby spots  
Heatherpaw - brown tabby she-cat  
Flamepaw - orange tabby tom

Queens:

Quietpool - fluffy white she-cat

Elders:

Clayspot - white tom with gray spots

Windclan

Leader:

Stonestar - grey she-cat

Deputy:

Cragfall - grey-brown tom with a white chest  
Apprentice, Cloverpaw

Medicine Cat:

Mistfur - silver tabby tom  
Apprentice, Dewpaw

Warriors:

Wasptail - more senior warrior; dark grey she-cat, blind in one eye from a fight with a fox  
Apprentice, Icepaw  
Ravenheart - black she-cat  
Sunpelt - orange tabby tom  
Apprentice, Nightpaw  
Stonefire - russet tom with white paws

Apprentices:

Icepaw - mostly white grey calico she-cat  
Cloverpaw - light brown tom  
Dewpaw - dark gray tom  
Nightpaw - black tom with white paws, belly, and chest

Queens:

Harefield - light brown she-cat (kit(s): Featherkit - light gray she-cat)

Elders:

Juniperstream - blue-gray she-cat  
Lakecloud - white tom

Riverclan

Leader:

Brushstar - brown tabby tom

Deputy:

Amberwing - russet she-cat with white paws

Medicine Cat:

Eggheart - grey she-cat with a white oval on her chest  
Apprentice, Birchfoot

Warriors:

Treeheart - brown tabby tom  
Apprentice, Mallowpaw  
Pinestream - brown tabby she-cat  
Nightpetal - black she-cat  
Bubblecloud - light grey tabby she-cat with white chest, underbelly, and paws

Apprentices:

Mallowpaw - very light gray she-cat

Queens:

Narrowear - slim grey tabby she-cat with a white chest (kit(s): Oakkit - brown tabby tom, Ivykit - gray tabby she-cat)  
Quailbranch - Gray she-cat with a white front paw (kit(s): Yarrowkit - black tabby she-cat, Pikekit - silver tabby tom, Rockkit - dappled grey and white tom)

Elders:

Bramblefur - light brown-furred tabby tom  
Mumbleberry - orange tabby tom  
Siltpool - sandy brown she-cat

Shadowclan

Leader:

Eaglestar - dark gray tabby tom with white muzzle, belly, and legs

Deputy:

Freewhisker - light brown tom

Medicine Cat:

Cloudydawn - near-sighted calico she-cat

Warriors:

Vineclaw - russet tom with a white belly  
Apprentice, Lightpaw  
Badgerstripe - black tom with white chest, belly, and paws  
Dustfeather - light brown tom with a white chest & belly  
Kestrelsong - gray tabby she-cat  
Apprentice, Rainpaw  
Owlcloud - brown tabby she-cat with a white belly  
Apprentice, Turtlepaw

Apprentices:

Turtlepaw - tortoiseshell she-cat  
Rainpaw - gray tabby she-cat  
Lightpaw - black tom with white paws, belly, and chest

Queens:

Pebblefoot - white she-cat with grey paws (kits(s): Willowkit - russet she-cat, Hillkit - white she-cat, Nettlekit - light grey tom)

Elders:

Grayherb - gray tabby tom; former medicine cat

Rogues:

Hawk - brown tabby tom with a white belly, chest, and muzzle  
Jay - dark gray tabby tom  
Creek - silver tabby she-cat  
Moss - slight gray tom  
Terry - light brown tom with a white chest and belly  
Twitch - light orange tabby tom with a white belly and paws  
Nightingale - black she-cat  
Bluebell - blue-gray she-cat  
Scratch - heavily scarred grey tabby tom  
Nightshade - dark grey she-cat  
Mint - light grey tom  
Scarecrow - sandy brown tom  
Keats - Gray tom with a white chest and muzzle

Loners:

Peach - cream tabby she-cat  
Blueberry - blue-eyed white she-cat  
Smokey - dark gray tabby tom

Kittypets:

Keith - black tom


	2. Chapter 1

Lightpaw crouched, frozen as the leafbare wind swirling around him. A rare sight in this cold weather, the pigeon he stalked would be quite a welcome addition to a fresh-kill pile typically stocked with scaly creatures who hibernated at this time of year.  
As though at some silent signal, Lightpaw leapt, and narrowly missed capturing the pale bird. He made a desperate swipe to swat it down before it could fly away. The pigeon came down, and Lightpaw swiftly finished it off, noting with distaste the mess he'd made of his catch.  
He had been an apprentice for more than a moon, and he should have been able to avoid simple mistakes like that by now, he thought. All the same, as his mentor, Vineclaw, joined him, with a catch of a pair of undersized mice of his own, he sat his catch down to congratulate Lightpaw.  
"Nice catch," Vineclaw told him. "Birds are difficult prey."  
"I made a mess of it though. I almost didn't catch it," Lightpaw responded, a bit bitterly.  
"No cat makes a perfect catch every time," Vineclaw reassured him. "Every warrior misses one occasionally. In the end, you did catch it, and it can still be eaten, and that counts for quite a bit more than a few bloody feathers."  
Vineclaw was the brother of Lightpaw's father, Badgerstripe. Sometimes, Lightpaw thought, Vineclaw seemed more like a father to Lightpaw and his sisters than Badgerstripe did - but then, Vineclaw was Lightpaw's mother Pebbleheart's mate now, not Badgerstripe, so perhaps that made sense. Lightpaw didn't know, and he didn't care, either. He had no reason to need his father's approval, or anyone else's.  
"Owlcloud and Turtlepaw have already gone back to camp. I told them I would come find you first; do you want to join them?"  
Lightpaw knew that there must not be much prey left around after all his thrashing around, and certainly none out and about, so he agreed that it would be best to return to camp. The forest floor in Shadowclan's territory, normally rather muddy, was frozen through today. It was cold on his pads, but Lightpaw considered it a small mercy, as he'd yet to get used to the mud sticking all over his paws every time he took a step into it.  
Back at camp, Vineclaw and Lightpaw added their catches to a relatively meager fresh-kill pile.  
"Hey, you guys caught something too! We did pretty good today!" Turtlepaw greeted them. Turtlepaw was a fair bit more optimistic than either of her siblings, and their sister Rainpaw struck a balance between her and Lightpaw, who could be downright dour at times, contrary to what his name might imply.  
"Have you eaten yet?" Lightpaw asked Turtlepaw.  
"Yeah, I had something before the hunting patrol earlier. What about you?"  
"I did too."  
"Oh, hey! Do you know who's going to the Gathering tonight?" Turtlepaw changed the subject suddenly.  
"I've been on patrol like you, where would I have found out?" Lightpaw responded. "Maybe Rainpaw knows."  
Turtlepaw looked around for Rainpaw, and spotted her near the nursery, playing with Willowkit, Hillkit, and Nettlekit, Pebbleheart's first litter with Vineclaw. Hillkit squealed from atop Rainpaw's back as Rainpaw gave her a badger ride.  
"My turn next!" Willowkit asserted as she and Nettlekit followed close behind Rainpaw, who was stomping about to Hillkit's great amusement.  
"Alright, Hillkit, it's Willowkit's turn," Rainpaw agreed.  
Hillkit pouted a bit, but relented without much complaint. Before Willowkit could take her turn, though, Turtlepaw interrupted. "Hey, Rainpaw! Do you know who's going to the Gathering tonight?" she asked.  
"Oh, hi, Turtlepaw," Rainpaw greeted her. "You and Lightpaw are going, I think, and Vineclaw, Badgerstripe, and Owlcloud."  
"Really? That's great!" Turtlepaw exclaimed. "It's too bad you don't get to go, though," she took a moment to add.  
"That's alright. I went last moon, and I imagine I'll get to go next moon as well. And besides, I still have badger rides to give out, don't I?"  
This question was directed at the kits, who responded with an emphatic "Yeah!"  
Willowkit clambered onto Rainpaw's back. "Have fun!" Rainpaw said.  
"You too!" Turtlepaw told her. They turned back around to see Eaglestar, Shadowclan's leader, sitting at the base of one of the tall pines, from which he directed clan meetings. The clan deputy, Freewhisker (whose unusual name had been the subject of a certain amount of scrutiny from fellow apprentices when he was a 'paw, if you listened to his brother Dustfeather), and the clan's medicine cat, Cloudydawn, waiting near him as the rest of the warriors began to gather.  
"It looks like we're about to leave," Lightpaw observed. As the two apprentices joined the warriors, Eaglestar looked around at them, as though making sure they were all present, and announced that it was time to leave for the Gathering.  
Turtlepaw was practically vibrating with excitement as they left. As Rainpaw had mentioned, all three of them had been to the last Gathering, as they had just become apprentices. Since for now, it was just the three siblings in the apprentices' den (as Kestrelsong and Owlcloud had become warriors shortly before the three of them had become apprentices, and promptly been given apprentices of their own in Rainpaw and Turtlepaw, respectively), Lightpaw wasn't sure why Turtlepaw was so excited.  
Lightpaw, for his part, was strangely nervous. He'd been to the last Gathering, and met new cats, found out how different they smelled, how different they acted from his own clanmates. Most of them would be the same cats, so why was Lightpaw so intimidated by the idea of seeing them again? Most of them were even pretty friendly, like the Thunderclan apprentices who spent most of their time chattering away at him without requiring any input on his part.  
Somehow, that thought was more comforting than anything else. As the small group of cats reached the shoreline of the lake, and the island came into view in the distance, his concerns - why had they been concerns at all? - settled, and as they approached the tree bridge, the prospect of the Gathering became exciting again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter! I'm not quite in the habit of writing as often as I used to - which is, in fact, the purpose of this fic! I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've been invested in writing it. I don't have a set update schedule, as at the moment I'm a senior in high school and have no idea when or if things are going to get busy for me, and I think setting an update schedule would discourage this from being fun for me. I hope to have a new chapter or three ready to post in the near future, though!


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Lightpaw and Nightpaw are really similar names, I wonder if it would really be a good idea to use them for my two main characters when it would be so easy to mix them up?  
Me to me: *S y m b o l i s m*

Nightpaw was dreadfully nervous.  
He had been an apprentice for almost half a moon now. Sleeping under the open sky with Cloverpaw and Icepaw was a welcome change from the cramped Windclan nursery, and Sunpelt was a great mentor, too; Nightpaw had been expecting (and sometimes still expected) him to be far less patient than he was, but Nightpaw still struggled often, and he knew Sunpelt must be exasperated with him sometimes, though he was very good at not showing it. Nightpaw appreciated that.  
He'd been looking forward to the Gathering as well, but now, actually standing at the tree bridge that led to the island gathering place, Nightpaw felt more unprepared than he ever had for anything in his life. He could already smell the scents of unfamiliar cats - Riverclan and Thunderclan, he recognized from border patrols, and a damper, mustier odor that must have been Shadowclan - and there were so many of them, all standing around and chatting over the din of all the other cats around them. There must have been more than twice as many cats as he'd ever met in his life!  
"It's a lot, isn't it?" Dewpaw, Windclan's medicine cat apprentice, asked sympathetically. Most of the other Windclan cats had already crossed the bridge, and Nightpaw was keenly aware that Dewpaw was waiting for him, but all the same, he was grateful for his friend's company. The two had been close for most of Nightpaw's life, especially so because Nightpaw had no littermates to share that closeness with.  
Nightpaw shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know if I can do this," he admitted.  
"It's far less intimidating once you start introducing yourself," Sunpelt told Nightpaw as he came up beside the other two cats. "Your first gathering is one of the most exciting events of your life! I know it seems like a lot of cats, but you'll have fun meeting the other apprentices."  
"Um, okay, I guess," Nightpaw mumbled in response, and tentatively followed Dewpaw and Sunpelt across the fallen log, the last cat to cross.  
As he set foot on the shore of the island, Nightpaw looked around at all of the individual cats from the other clans. In the branches of the tall tree from which the leaders spoke, he saw Stonestar, his own clan leader, joining three other cats, who from descriptions from his clanmates he could identify as the leaders of the other clans: Eaglestar, the old tom who led Shadowclan, whose manner of holding himself reminded Nightpaw of an eagle as much as the pattern of his fur, and Galestar, the Thunderclan leader and the largest of the group, a muscular dark tabby tom who even among the leaders of all four clans Nightpaw found intimidating, as well as Brushstar, whose neat and near regal appearance suited the tales of Riverclan he'd heard as a kit. Their deputies, Nightpaw presumed by the fact that Cragfall stood with them, sat at the base of the tree, as well as the medicine cats - there was Mistfur.  
"I have to go sit with the other medicine cats," Dewpaw told Nightpaw, "I'll talk to you in a bit." Sunpelt had already disappeared, Nightpaw noticed then.  
"Oh, no, please don't leave me by myself," Nightpaw groaned dreadfully. Everything was far louder and the smells were all so much stronger here, and he despised the thought of being left alone now.  
"You'll be alright," Dewpaw replied. "It won't even be that long. Look, the other apprentices are over there; they're all really nice."  
Nightpaw made an uncertain noise, but halfheartedly agreed as Dewpaw left him alone. He made no move toward the cats Dewpaw had pointed out, however, until one of them - an orange tabby, Thunderclan - caught his eye and bounded over excitedly.  
"Oh, hey, it's Lightpaw! I was hoping you'd be here again!" he greeted Nightpaw excitedly.  
Lightpaw? Nightpaw wondered. "I, uh," he began quietly, but the other apprentice didn't seem to notice.  
"Salmonclaw says I might be able to do my assessment soon, which is really great - " he cut off suddenly. "Oh, you're not Lightpaw."  
"Um, no, I'm...Nightpaw," the younger apprentice managed.  
"Oh, are you guys littermates? Why weren't you at the last Gathering?" he continued. "Oh, I guess you don't know, I'm Flamepaw, by the way."  
"I don't have any littermates," Nightpaw responded, more tersely than he intended. "I'm in Windclan."  
"That's really weird, I wonder if Lightpaw is here, I need to introduce you to him!"  
Flamepaw bounded off, and, lacking anywhere else to go, Nightpaw followed him.  
"Turtlepaw, hi," Flamepaw said to a tortoiseshell Shadowclan apprentice. "Is Lightpaw here too? I met a new Windclan apprentice who looks just like him - this is Nightpaw," Flamepaw introduced him. "I thought he was Lightpaw when I first saw him. I'm not convinced yet he's not your, Lightpaw, and Rainpaw's lost sibling or something," he joked.  
"Wow, they really do look similar," Turtlepaw agreed, and Nightpaw flicked his tail nervously as she stared. "Hey, Lightpaw!" she called to a cat nearby.  
He turned around, and Nightpaw realized, they did look eerily similar - the same black fur, the same white markings in the same places, even their eyes were the same color.  
Both Lightpaw and Nightpaw were silent for a long moment. The apprentice - Shadowclan, like Turtlepaw - differentiated himself from Nightpaw in his demeanor. He stood taller, looked sharper, and Nightpaw felt smaller under his gaze.  
Nightpaw dismissed the thought quickly as Lightpaw headed toward them, two she-cats who had been chatting with him following quickly after. He looked, not so uncertain as Nightpaw, perhaps, but not so sure of himself as he might appear at first glance; not unduly confident, at least.  
"Oh, you're the new Windclan apprentice, right?" one of the she-cats, the only Riverclan apprentice present, asked him. "It's Nightpaw, isn't it? I'm Mallowpaw, my mentor Treeheart mentioned you'd be here, hi!"  
"Flamepaw mistook him for Lightpaw," Turtlepaw informed the three approaching apprentices. "Don't they look so similar?"  
Several smaller groups of warriors milled around them, engaged in their own conversations. Nightpaw spotted Sunpelt nearby, and longed to join his mentor where he sat engaged in a serious-looking conversation with a russet-furred Shadowclan tom. He wished he could join a cat he knew as the other clans' apprentices discussed him - one was looking at him expectantly - the Thunderclan she-cat - and a jolt of panic rushed through him.  
"Sorry, what?" he asked meekly.  
"I asked when you were apprenticed, you don't look older than six moons, but I wasn't sure because Lightpaw's tiny too - "  
"Am not!" Lightpaw interrupted defensively, the first time Nightpaw had heard him speak. "Shut up, Applepaw." His tone had no bite to it, though. Nightpaw noticed that, aside from perhaps himself, Lightpaw was indeed smaller than the rest of the gathered apprentices.  
Maybe that's why he seems so angry, Nightpaw thought to himself idly, glancing around anxiously again. This time he saw Ravenheart, his mother. She was talking to no one, but was watching the apprentices, wearing an expression Nightpaw didn't know how to interpret.  
"Cats of all clans!" Eaglestar called suddenly, and Nightpaw started, not having expected such. The she-cats at least pretended not to notice, taking a moment to quiet down after most of the other cats, but Lightpaw, Nightpaw thought, was looking at him as though bats' ears had suddenly sprouted from his head. Flamepaw gave him a sympathetic glance, and Nightpaw wasn't sure which was worse.  
"Let the Gathering begin," Eaglestar continued.  
Stonestar spoke then. "Prey is running well in Windclan, despite the leafbare weather," she announced. "Windclan has a new apprentice, mentored by Sunpelt, Nightpaw!"  
No one had told Nightpaw that his apprenticeship was going to be announced to everyone! All the gathered cats were looking at him, now, and they, including the other apprentices he'd just met, called his name together, just like his apprentice ceremony with his own clan. "Nightpaw! Nightpaw!" they called. Nightpaw's fur felt hot, and he kneaded the ground nervously, ripping up grass with his claws. In spite of himself, Nightpaw felt anxiety bubbling up within him, and tried to focus on the feeling of the dirt beneath his feet as it came loose.  
Lightpaw was watching him curiously, and Nightpaw wondered about the Shadowclan apprentice who so closely resembled him. It was true, it was unusual that Nightpaw didn't have any littermates, and Flamepaw's joke about them being related somehow bothered him against all logic. Why would he be in Windclan of they were? Didn't Flamepaw say Lightpaw had two other siblings - one the tortoiseshell, Turtlepaw, and another, what name had Flamepaw said? Why would he be alone in Windclan with his mother if there were four kits, and they might have been split up evenly? It was a ridiculous idea. Nightpaw wondered how, then, he and Lightpaw did look so similar - and it occurred to him that he'd tuned out from the announcements of the leaders above him.  
"- keep an eye out for strange cats near the clan territories," Eaglestar was saying as Nightpaw began listening again. "As Shadowclan has no further news, this gathering has reached its end."  
Nightpaw had missed all of the other leaders speaking! Had he missed something important? The last thing Eaglestar had said sounded important.  
"It was nice meeting you," Turtlepaw said to him.  
"Hopefully we'll see each other on the next full moon!" Flamepaw added. It seemed Mallowpaw and Applepaw had already left them, and as Turtlepaw and Flamepaw joined their respective clans, Nightpaw and Lightpaw were left alone.  
"I, um, hope I see you again soon," Nightpaw took the initiative to say. He was a bit surprised to find that he meant it.  
"You too," Lightpaw responded, and seemed to soften a bit. Nightpaw wasn't sure whether he should turn to leave first, or wait for Lightpaw to, so they stood there awkwardly for a few more moments before Sunpelt interrupted, to Nightpaw's relief.  
"Nightpaw! It's time to go," he said, rushing Nightpaw along.  
"Bye," Nightpaw said to Lightpaw finally as he turned away.  
"Bye," he heard Lightpaw reciprocate from behind him after a moment.  
Thunderclan and Riverclan had gone as Sunpelt and Nightpaw joined the rest of the Windclan cats. As they crossed the tree bridge, Shadowclan followed them, and the two clans headed in opposite directions toward their own territories. Nightpaw watched them go, blending into the night as the clan was named for doing. He looked beyond them, across the lake to the pine forest that Shadowclan called home, and turned to follow his own clanmates when the other cats were gone. That night he dreamed of creeping up on small, scaly creatures under the dark evergreens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that, I actually posted a chapter when I intended to, yay me! This one's a bit longer, thankfully (almost four pages), and hopefully a lot more interesting to read than the last one. I tried to get everyone's personality across properly, each cat has a distinct personality in my head and I want to be able to display them in the story. I hope you all enjoyed this one, and hopefully I'll have another chapter for you soon!


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit difficult for me to get through! It took a little longer than the others, and I got stuck on at least three parts trying to connect where I was to where I wanted to go, but it's done! Enjoy!

"Lightpaw, what if that Windclan apprentice really is our brother?" Rainpaw asked quite suddenly. They were sitting in the pine-sheltered clearing Shadowclan called home, he with a half-frozen lizard and she with a vole, and Lightpaw turned to look at her, surprised. Turtlepaw had been going on about the possibility for the past several sunrises non-stop, and gotten them strange looks from several of their clanmates for it. Lightpaw had been turning over the idea in his head almost constantly himself, driven on by an uneasy feeling he hadn't been able to shake since that night. He hadn't expected Rainpaw to be so immersed in the idea, though, and she hadn't shown any sign of it - but of course she was interested, in her own Rainpaw way, turning it over in her mind until she could stand it no longer.  
"Turtlepaw certainly seems enthused by the idea," Lightpaw responded. "But that doesn't make sense. Badgerstripe and Pebblefoot are both Shadowclan, so why would he have been raised in Windclan?" He repeated the same discussion he'd had with Turtlepaw, and with himself, sunrise to sunset since the Gathering.  
"But something doesn't add up," Rainpaw continued. "You've noticed all the looks Turtlepaw has been getting, going on about it like she has, right? I mentioned Nightpaw to Pebblefoot, just to see what she thought, and she seemed...strange about it."  
"Strange how?"  
"I'm not sure yet." As though realizing this was out of character for her, she shifted self-consciously and turned back to her vole. "But I want to find out. He's probably not actually related to us, I know, but everyone is being so strange about him, and that has to mean something."  
Lightpaw had been prepared to give up on Turtlepaw's conspiracies. Well, okay, almost. He would have been over it in a few days. But here was Rainpaw, being reasonable and helpful and yet so curious, and how suddenly it was that he was fully interested again. "So what are we supposed to do about it?" he asked.  
"Well…" she thought for a moment. "Can you mention something to Vineclaw and see how he reacts? I think some cats might become suspicious if I start going around asking every cat about a Windclan apprentice I've never even met."  
"Oh, I mean, I guess," Lightpaw agreed. He hadn't expected Rainpaw to send him around interrogating his clanmates...but that made sense, when he thought about it. Where else were they supposed to get answers?  
"Hey!" Turtlepaw joined them with a mouse for her own meal.  
"How was the border patrol?" Rainpaw asked. She then gave Lightpaw a meaningful looks, which he took to mean "Don't say anything to Turtlepaw yet." That was probably for the best, as the events of the past few days had proven.  
"The rogue scent is still there. Dustfeather thinks they've been coming back, but no one is sure." Turtlepaw wrinkled her nose. "They weren't very good about hiding their scent either way. You could still smell them from miles away."  
Rogue scent had been discovered on the border about half a moon ago, and Lightpaw had heard they had been seen near Thunderclan recently as well. No cat had been able to get close enough to identify them, and the clan was a bit on edge about it. None of the clans needed rogues traipsing around their territory, especially in the middle of leaf-bare, when prey was already scarce enough.  
Lightpaw, having finished his meal, stood and stretched. "Vineclaw wants to do battle training at sun-high, so I'll talk to you later," he told his littermates.  
"Okay, bye!" Turtlepaw said, and Rainpaw nodded her head at him.  
Lightpaw ducked out of camp and headed toward the clearing Vineclaw normally took him to for training. The path he took was mercifully carpeted with pine needles, and Lightpaw chose it precisely for that reason. He could get muddy practice fighting if he had to, but if he could avoid sinking into the thick muck and getting it between his toes, he certainly would.  
Since there were three apprentices, they took turns practicing with each other and their mentors. Today, Rainpaw and Turtlepaw had practiced with each other, so Lightpaw was stuck practicing with Vineclaw, who as a trained, even seasoned, warrior was a much tougher opponent.  
Not stuck, Lightpaw scolded himself. He would need to fight larger, more experienced cats as a warrior, so he was helped more by training with Vineclaw now than training with his sisters all the time.  
Even if it did leave him bumped and bruised and exhausted.  
Vineclaw was waiting for him in the clearing, and wasted no time getting to work. It seemed like days they practiced there. Critique and encouragement came in equal measure, though Lightpaw heard the former much more clearly, and despite the fact that Vineclaw was going easy on him, Lightpaw was sure, the apprentice rarely got the upper paw, and even then, it was certainly when Vineclaw let him. Vineclaw assured him that this was fine, as Vineclaw had seasons upon seasons more experience than Lightpaw, but Lightpaw knew he could do better, and getting frustrated about it meant he did worse as the day wore on.  
In the midst of one bout, Lightpaw thought he might genuinely be doing well (or at least better than he had been for some time) when he was abruptly taken by a rush of excitement that he knew wasn't from the battle.   
Lightpaw sometimes felt emotions that seemed wrong or extreme for the situation he was in. He might be dozing in camp during the afternoon and feel as though he were on the trail of fresh prey, or during an argument with Badgerstripe he would suddenly feel as though he were face-to-face with a real badger.  
In this case, those emotions had consequences. Lightpaw hesitated, and Vineclaw was on him - he was pinned and immobile in less than a moment.  
Just then, however, they were interrupted. "Vineclaw!" Cloudydawn said from the edge for the practice clearing. "Can I steal your apprentice for a little while?"  
Please, Lightpaw thought to himself.  
Vineclaw let go of Lightpaw, who rolled over and sat up.  
"Sure," Vineclaw agreed, "We were probably about finished here anyway."  
"Thanks," Couldydawn said. "I need your eyes," she told Lightpaw.  
Cloudydawn had had poor eyesight for most of Lightpaw's life, though he'd been told she hadn't always. It didn't seem to bother her, though; she often dragged apprentices along with her while she hunted for herbs, both for her benefit and, as she saw it, theirs.  
Cloudydawn led Lightpaw into the forest, and as they left Vineclaw behind, she said to him quietly, "You looked like you needed rescuing." There was a teasing glint in her eye.  
"I was doing fine!" Lightpaw responded indignantly. Cloudydawn didn't seem to believe him.  
"I showed you horsetail last time, right?" Cloudydawn changed the subject suddenly. "It's the tall spiny one, isn't it?" Lightpaw replied.  
Whenever she brought an apprentice with her searching for herbs, Cloudydawn tried to teach them how to find it again if they needed to. Lightpaw hadn't been sure why, if they were supposed to have a medicine cat for that, but Cloudydawn had compared it to how she had still had to learn battle moves as an apprentice, despite the fact that she was training to be a medicine cat, and he sort of understood then. Eaglestar seemed to think it was a good idea, so Lightpaw supposed he didn't have much of a choice.  
"Great, do you remember what it smells like? Can you tell if there's any near here?" Cloudydawn continued.  
Lightpaw thought he remembered what horsetail smelled like, but he wasn't sure. Plants mostly all smelled the same to him, but he thought he might smell it. He glanced at Cloudydawn watching him expectantly, giving away no clues. But she'd led him rather decisively to this spot, so he decided it must be around here somewhere, even if he wasn't sure he smelled it.  
"There is, isn't there?" he said, and Cloudydawn looked pleased.  
"Can you tell where, exactly?" she continued.  
Not one to give up until long after he knew he was beat, Lightpaw decided he was most certainly going to find some horsetail - But after spending more time than seemed necessary searching, Cloudydawn had evidently decided he was hopeless for herself, because she got his attention to point it out to him where it was hiding in the underbrush.  
Lightpaw lashed his tail in frustration, and resolved to remember the smell of horsetail for the rest of his life. Cloudydawn seemed amused by this, and told him any cat with a nose for herbs that good would most certainly have been meant to be a medicine cat. "Vineclaw would be so disappointed, anyway," she added, and suddenly Llightpaw remembered his promise to Rainpaw. He'd forgotten to mention Nightpaw to his mentor!  
But here was Cloudydawn, who was as likely to know something as anyone, perhaps more likely.  
"Everyone's been really weird about that Windclan apprentice who looks like me," Lightpaw blurted, and Cloudydawn gave him an intrigued look. "Rainpaw says Pebblefoot especially. Do you know why people keep giving Turtlepaw strange looks every time she mentions it?"  
Cloudydawn was silent for a moment. "What do you think about him?" she asked.  
"Who? Nightpaw?" Lightpaw responded.  
"Yes, the Windclan apprentice. How do you feel about him?"  
"I don't know, he's alright, I guess. Kind of quiet. We didn't talk much."  
Cloudydawn blinked at him. "Well, you seem awfully interested in him for how little you know about him."  
"What do you mean by that?" Lightpaw asked suspiciously.  
"I mean, have you spoken to Nightpaw about any of your...suspicions?"  
"Turtlepaw's suspicions," Lightpaw responded quickly.  
"Right," Cloudydawn replied. She turned away from him and beckoned with her tail for him to follow her. The two headed back toward camp, still in the midst of their discussion.  
"I guess I didn't really have much of a chance, at the Gathering," Lightpaw continued. "Maybe he'll be there again next moon. Even if I'm not there, Turtlepaw or Rainpaw can talk to him." Then he paused, and asked Cloudydawn, "But why do you care? If Turtlepaw wants to imagine some tale about long lost siblings and drag Rainpaw and I into it, that's our problem. Why are you encouraging us?"  
Cloudydawn gave Lightpaw a bittersweet, knowing look, but didn't answer.  
It was late in the day by now, and the sun was low in the sky. They travelled back to camp in silence.  
Rainpaw met Lightpaw near the camp entrance, and only a lifelong experience with her as his littermate let him know she was at all restless.  
"Did you find out anything?" she asked immediately.  
"I didn't get a chance to talk to Vineclaw, but I did say something to Cloudydawn," Lightpaw told her. "She wants us to talk to Nightpaw."  
""Really? Do you think he knows any more than us?"  
"I wouldn't think so. If no one wants to tell us anything, why would they tell him?"  
"Maybe Windclan is different about things like that?" Rainpaw responded, not sounding as though she believed it. Then, after a moment, she added, "So what are we going to do then?"  
"I think Cloudydawn knows what she's talking about. Certainly more than we do," Lightpaw replied.  
"I guess we're going to make friends with Nightpaw."


End file.
